The Red Will Light Our Way
by BetTheDuckisInTheHat
Summary: This wasn't the first time Captain Lopez was stranded in an island, and probably wouldn't be the last. But what if something different happened to her this time? Or rather someone, that would change her life forever. ON BREAK
1. Chapter 1

**October 20th, 1678**

Her body felt overheated as she could feel the sun burning the back of her head. The girl could feel the dirt and water covering her body as the salty smell of a beach invaded her senses.

Santana grunted as she tried opening her eyes, failing miserably at the task since the sun was too strong and her face too covered in sand. Patting her waist, she thanked the lord her beloved flask was still with her. She moved to lie on her back and uncapped the flask to take a sip, her eyes still squeezed shut. The brunette tasted the fresh water and immediately spat the contents with a groan.

"What the hell happened to my rum?" Santana muttered angrily, as she tried once again opening her eyes, but the sand only made it hurt. Santana huffed in frustration and cleaned her face with the water. The woman was pretty certain, she had filled the flask with rum from her secret stash very recently. As she thought about it, the only possible explanation was that her first mate, Mercy, had sabotaged her and changed the contents of the flask.

Santana gritted her teeth as she already started forming a plan to get back at her friend. What if the brunette liked to appreciate fine drinking every once in a while? (or every chance she could get) She was still a fine captain, regardless. Mercy should learn her place and stop messing with her stash.

Putting her nosy shipmate aside, Santana took in her surroundings. First thing she saw was the crystal blue water of the vast open sea in front of her, along with large pieces of wood all over the deserted beach she seemed to be in. She figured by the sting in her hands that the cuts and splinters she was seeing on it, probably were a result of her holding on to those wood boards on her way to get here. Using her hand to create shade over her eyes, she focused her gaze ahead but all she could see was the clear horizon and definitely no sigh of her ship. She frowned right away.

"Shit," she said as she got up to take a better look around. And again, there was still no sign of La Canoras, her beloved ship. Santana turned around and saw a vast forest behind her and a higher pile of rocks at the edge of the beach that looked steady enough. Patting her dirty clothes, she forced her growing headache to the back of her mind as she checked her body for any injuries. Luckily for her there was nothing major, other than just some scratches; her hands looked the worst. Santana dipped them in the cold salt water, grimacing at the sharp sting at the contact with it, then she teared a piece of her once white undershirt and wrapped around them. Santana released a sigh of relief at not having anything worse than that as she started making her way to the rocks.

Stepping onto the steady stone surface, she slowly climbed the tangled pile of rocks with her tired and overheated body. Once on top of it, Santana took another look around and noticed there was still no sign of her ship; to her utter surprise and disappointment. Not only that but there was no other ships around at all, not even fisherman's boats or merchants.

She sat on top of the largest rock dejectedly, taking her wet heavy boots off to dry beside her while she tried to gather her thoughts; as the brunette strained to remember what happened the night before. She remembered there was a big storm; a rather violent one actually. And Santana hated storms.

Wrecking her brain for more memories, she remembered drinking alone in her cabin; as she usually did during heavy storms. She also recalled how bored she was inside the cabin, and that - _Oh shit_ \- at some point she decided to go outside.

_**Flashback**_** \- ****October 19th, 1678**

_"Mary! Mary!" Santana yelled to the winds as she stumbled her way into the main deck firmly holding a rum bottle in her hand. With the rain pouring down on her head, her blurred vision barely registered all the commotion around her, as sailors ran around the deck at someone else's commands._

_"Mary! Mary! Mary!" she kept calling out, locating the stairs for the quarterdeck and heading that way. When Santana got to the bottom of the stairs she heard a loud familiar voice screaming her name._

_"Santana!"_

_The inebriated captain looked up from the stairs to see a large woman with an utterly soaked frock coat glaring at her._

_"Good heavens, would ye stop callin' me that?!" the woman said placing her hands on her hips as Santana climbed the rest of the short stairs practically ignoring the other woman. "Ye know I hate that!" she said lowly so not everyone would hear her._

_Santana did know her friend hated being called Mary, and that was precisely the reason she did it. Mary Mercy Jones was her first mate and also La Canoras' Boatswain who happened to be Santana's best friend. They were raised together on the Lopez ship. Mer was just the cooker's kid back then, but they became friends right away, since there weren't any other kids aboard at that time. The girl had always disliked being called Mary and nowadays Santana was probably the only one on the crew that knew her full name._

_"Oh Mary, have Mercy!" Santana laughed at her own lame pun, as the woman just rolled her eyes and got back to her position guiding the wheel._

_"Get back in yer cabin, Satan!" Mercy said after a moment when she noticed Santana was just standing there with glassy eyes._

_"Nah!" The drunken woman whined stubbornly crossing her arms and taking a few wobbly steps towards Mercy._

_"I'm the Captain!" she puffed her chest out and held her chin up. Mercy didn't waver, as she positioned a hand at her own waist and quirked an eyebrow at her inebriated friend._

_Santana released a loud frustrated sigh, and after a second admitted with a noticeable pout "And I was bored."_

_Mercy's eyes softened at her friend and patiently tried to explain "Santana, I have to handle the ship while ye be like 'tis." She said motioning to Santana's body and the bottle in her hand, Santana opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by Mer "Please get back in the cabin" she pleaded to her stubborn friend._

_"Aye, I'll go." Santana deflated finally giving in to Mercy's pleas._

_"But only for you, Mary." Santana teased with a smirk and winked at her friend, Mercy hit the girl's arm lightly before waving her off and getting back to the wheel and shouting out commands to the other sailors as Santana walked away._

Santana could recall walking down the stairs to get back to the main deck, but that was it. After that, everything was even more blurry and she couldn't remember what had happened afterwards.

She released an exasperated sigh at her inability to gather all her thoughts from the previous night. Maybe she overdid it with the alcohol after all. Santana got up and wiped the sand off her rear before putting her now almost dry boots on again and making her way down the rocks.

The brunette thought that since she seemed to be alone in this island for god knows how long she might as well just explore and gather some food and supplies. The first thing one should do when in a situation like this is gather food and water. But if Santana was lucky enough she could even find some alcohol, it sure wasn't the first time the captain was stranded in a strange place or a deserted island.

In one particular occasion Santana was really fortunate to find a rum stash hidden by some smugglers in an island. And she pretty much got drunk until her crew had found her a couple days later. Santana was hoping that would be the case once again.

As she got back on sea level she headed for the forest located right alongside the beach. Santana groaned in disappointment to find out her Cutlass probably got lost at sea so she brandished her dagger and checked her trusted Flintlock Pistol safely strapped to her waist; seeing her powder was still wet and wouldn't help her but any possible enemy didn't have to know that. Nonetheless Santana was glad she at least had these weapons on her. Then she sighed deeply for a moment, preparing herself for what she might face before she finally went into the forest.

As she entered the unknown backdrop, she found herself surrounded by thick leaves in only a couple steps but still Santana tried to listen for the sound of running water. After minutes of walking through the dense foliage she finally caught the familiar sound of water and was quick to follow it. Getting further into the tropical forest the path was becoming more difficult to walk on, even if Santana cut the branches that got in her way. The girl kept going since the sound of water seemed to be getting near with each step she took.

When Santana cut a few more branches that were blocking her view, she saw a clearing ahead of her. As she entered the large clearing she spotted a wooden cabin, build just about a hundred meters away from a running river.

She contained her relief for now, and for safety, the pirate drew her pistol with her left arm and readied herself even if it didn't seemed to be anyone around. She had learned it was better to be prepared, just in case.

Santana approached the beat down cabin and hesitantly knocked on the door, once, then twice. When she got no response, she kicked the door open and brandished her pistol. She finally sighed in relief as she noticed the cabin seemed to be abandoned after all; as it looked like no one had lived there for a long time by the state the place was in.

It was a very small cabin, and there wasn't even any usable furniture around. There was a small table that was missing two of its legs, but no sign of any chairs. In the corner she could see the marks on the floor from where she guessed the bed was probably placed in the past. There was a crude hearth against one of the walls, with a hole for the smoke to be guided out through it by a canopy and Santana thanked the lord it looked usable and dry enough, upon further inspection. Santana also looked up to check for any cracks at the ceiling and thankfully she didn't see any.

Looking around, she noticed the cabin certainly was small and full of dust but it was still shelter, so she was not complaining. And definitely wasn't the worst place Santana had been in.

Exploring the place a little further, she noticed there was one more thing hidden in the back wall. There was an old chest covered in cobwebs and dust.

A large grin formed on Santana's face, she really liked chests, all kinds of them. She always got excited at the sight of one. She was a pirate after all, and the unknown had always marveled her.

As she got closer, the woman was thrilled for the possibilities in front of her. When she tried opening it, she couldn't. The chest was locked. And Santana's grin only became bigger at the realization.

Santana liked chests, but she absolutely loved locked chests. It could only mean there was something worth keeping inside of it. The woman patted her trousers once again, this time looking for her hair pin.

Only a few people knew this, but there was a reason Santana was such a notorious thief. And it was the fact that she was a master at lock picking. She was even better at picking locks than she was with a sword or even sailing. And she always proudly bragged to her best friend, that there was no lock she couldn't pick.

A huge smile covered her face as she felt the pin tucked safely inside one of her pockets. The woman crouched down to attentively analyze the lock. She always said that the secret to lock picking was on the knowledge of the lock. And Santana did a mental celebratory dance as she noticed the lock had a familiar mechanism, even if it was a tricky one. She carefully brought the pin to the lock and started her magic.

After a few minutes struggling with the lock, Santana finally heard the heavenly click, signaling the much awaited unlocking of the chest. And with her fingers trembling with excitement and anticipation, she straightened her back and very carefully opened the chest.

Her feelings were mixed with what she found in the chest. One side of her was really disappointed that it didn't bare any valuable treasure, or more importantly alcohol. But another part of her was really grateful to find several blankets and even a few garments inside of it, which would definitely help her on her brief stay.

She groaned as she stood up again after searching the chest for anything useful beside clothes. Santana took another look around the small cabin and groaned again, realizing she would have to actually do some work if she wanted to survive while she was there.

It took Santana a few hours and some trips from the beach to the cabin to gather and arrange her things for the night. And now the sun was almost setting, but she gazed proudly at the fire she had just started on the hearth inside the cabin. The woman managed to gather many banana and coconut leaves to build a makeshift bed on the corner and covered it with one of the blankets for some comfort. She had checked the pouch attached to her leather belt earlier and only found a couple more pins, a few coins and Mike's weird ass healing cream; that smelled horrible but was very effective, she was grateful for not being injured so she wouldn't have to endure that atrocious smell.

She also gathered some fruits around the island for her supper and she even tried catching a fish but with no rod or fishing net there was just no way she would catch anything so she gave up only a few minutes after she started, deciding to spent her time at the beach drawing and building large signs on the sand so her crew could find her faster.

There were pros and cons of being a pirate, but definitely a lot of cons. Santana had been in this situation before, and she knew these waters were probably dangerous territory. And she didn't get to be a renowned female Captain of a pirate ship without making enemies along the way. The brunette was lucky to have found an apparent safe shelter with good enough distance from the beach. She couldn't just build a huge fire on the beach, stay sitting there and wait for her crew. If she did that, anyone would be able to see it and would easily find her, and chances are they would not be friendly towards her.

So ever since the first time it happened, Santana and her first mate created specific signs and words they would do and write to let the other one know where they were stranded if it ever happened again, and also made a promise to each other that they wouldn't give up on finding the other, even if Santana claimed that this particularly lame conversation never happened afterwards. But she knew as well as Mer, that both would keep their word. So that's what she did with her remaining time at the beach.

As Santana hovered over all the food she had gathered from the island and her low efficient fire, she really wished she had a strong drink to go along with it. Santana had just changed her clothes and left them to fully dry as she sat by the fire sipping on coconut water and eating bananas, taking a moment to think about her friends and her beloved ship. Santana felt comfort knowing Mer wouldn't give up on her so soon. She knew not everyone loved or even liked her in her crew but at least they all respected her for everything she's done for them so far. She might have made some mistakes in the past but everyone knew she was a damn fine captain at the end of the day.

Later after her supper, she stepped outside to gather some wood by the side of the cabin to secure the cabin's door shut, to avoid any intruders during the night. And she noticed how dark it was. Glancing up she saw how heavy gray clouds hovered above, and no sigh of the moon. Sighing and making her way back inside, she looked up again and a faint red glow caught her eye. She frowned at seeing the red familiar form in the sky. _That's odd,_ she thought. It's not usual for it to appear at such a time of the year, and especially not in a stormy night such as this. Santana shrugged to herself and reentered the cabin.

She fixed the piece of wood so it would keep the door tightly shut and made her way to her sleep area, sitting down at her surprisingly comfortable makeshift bed. The sudden thundering she could hear outside made her think about the storm that had happened on the previous day. It was so sudden not even her was expecting it.

Dave had warned her though, a storm might be coming he had said that morning looking grumpy as usual while eating his oatmeal beside her, "Are you sure, Dave?" Santana had asked remembering the sky looked pretty clear to her, and he only nodded, stuffing his mouth with more food. But when she had asked Sugar, the lookout, she had said there were no clouds on the horizon and no ships ahead and Sugar even bet a few coins, saying there was no way a storm was coming in the next few days. And since Mer had supported the girl, Santana decided to push through with their navigation plans. The faster they got to their destination, the better chance they would have.

So that was absolutely the last time she gave the obnoxious youngling the benefit of the doubt. And Santana was definitely collecting her coins when she returned to her ship. Sugar still had a lot to learn about the weather and the sea, being the newest member of her crew. If it wasn't for her best friend, Santana would have kicked that girl out of her ship a long time ago.

And David was probably laughing at her right now; if he was here he would be saying "I told you so" repeatedly. But she also knew the big guy was probably worried about her too, and was probably getting a scolding from his father for not looking out for her.

She huffed out a laugh, imagining the scene in her head as she lied on her makeshift bed to the sound of loud thunder. If the storms continued around this area; it was very likely her crew would take some time to get there, as Mercy would never risk her ship and crew safety like that to come in the middle of such a powerful storm, and also because she knew Santana could take care of herself.

Now Santana really regretted having so much to drink on the night before. No one but Mercy and David knew this but she hated storms, and it wouldn't be good for her moral if her crew was aware of that. So she always drank her heart's content whenever they faced violent storms such as last night was, and let her first mate take care of the hard decisions.

Santana could hear the thundering and the heavy rain falling upon the cabin now and was thankful again that there wasn't any leak near her bed or the fire pit. But groaned as she remembered there wasn't any alcohol to appease her nerves caused by the storm. She eventually sighed, letting her exhausted body be taken over into restless sleep.

* * *

Hey, yess a new story. Though not really cause I've been thinking and writing for this story since about the same time as Cloud has, I'm just so much slower. Btw, if you haven't read Savage! by Swinging Cloud, you totally should.

I'll be posting a print of the structure of the ships in the story either on tumblr or on my profile, just so you guys have an idea what it looks like.

And if you want to know about my other stories, check my profile (that I just updated) to see the status and progress of my stories.

Hope you guys liked this chapter, for now it's just to set up the story but I'll be posting the next one in a few days just to get things going. Please let me know what you think :D

Oh, and this is unbeta'd so all mistakes are totally mine.

Ducks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Warnings for possibly triggering material at the bottom.**

* * *

**October 23th, 1678**

Brittany woke up with a loud knocking on her cabin's door. She wasn't used to that, she usually was the first one up; just before the sun rise the young sailor already needed to get countless things done. Actually she wasn't used to anyone knocking on her door at all. The woman looked around in the dark cabin with sleepy eyes scanning the still unfamiliar place; even if it's been a couple months now, Brittany still wasn't used to getting her own private sleeping quarters on a ship.

The blonde woman got up and checked the tiny window in her room to see that indeed, there was no sign of the sun and frowned. Something must have happened for someone to come looking for her at such early hour.

"First Mate Pierce, Sir!" an unsure and familiar voice called out on the other side of the door.

Brittany steadied herself and hurried to put proper clothing on. She only moved to the door when she was fully dressed; securing the bindings over her chest were hidden underneath her undershirt before putting her waistcoat on, tucking her braid under her dark blue bandana and hat and fixing her Cutless and pouch securely to her waist.

She opened the door to find an anxious greasy haired young man with thick eyebrows staring at her. The blonde lowered her voice as she addressed the shorter man "I told you to call me Brent, Blaine."

She still wasn't used to the title and no one treated her different than before her promotion except for Blaine, who insisted on calling her by her new title, or by some respectful manner. There was no need for such formalities in a pirate ship, plus Blaine must be almost the same age as her, so it would be even weirder.

The short man, Blaine blushed at his superior remark and nodded without meeting first mate Brent Pierce's eyes.

"So, what is the matter?" Brittany tried not to sound annoyed at the interruption of her sleep. But she knew the new comer Blaine Anderson was having a hard time adapting to the ship and most crew members picked on him on a daily basis, so she didn't want to make his life even harder.

Blaine averted his eyes and gulped very loudly. "Mr. Puck has sent me."

Brittany was surprised and her face showed. One reason was that Puck didn't come fetch her himself and two, Puck was awake this early in the morn.

"He said it was urgent, Mr.…I mean, Brent." the boy almost slipped again, but corrected the name right away embarrassingly looking down at the floor.

Brittany released an exasperated sigh and asked "Are you sure, he's not just drunk?"

"Yes, I'm certain." Blaine nodded but his voice faltered at the end. And Brittany was sure she heard him mumble something that sounded like 'not that drunk.'

"Alright, then." Brittany said closing her door behind her and locking it before Blaine had even a chance to peak inside. One of the first advises her captain gave her when he promoted her was, always lock your cabin.

"He is at the quarterdeck." Blaine informed his superior. The first mate gave him a curt nod before stepping into the main deck and heading up the stairs to the quarterdeck.

When Brittany got there, she saw the slump form of a man sitting on the ground and leaning against the mizzenmast. Approaching the man, she recognized her friend and noticed Puck looked somber and not his usual drunk self.

"Puck, is everything all right?" she asked with a frown on her face.

"Oh Brent! Finally!" he exclaimed pointing the bottle in his hand towards his friend.

"What are you doing here this early?" she questioned, observing her friend definitely looked like he had had too much to drink. Brittany wondered if Blaine was blind not to see that or his huge eyebrows just had clouded his vision.

"Did you even go to sleep?" Puck smirked at her question as he took another swing of his bottle.

Noah Puckerman, or The Puckster as he liked to be called, was the ship's Boatswain, he was in charge of the ship itself and keeping it in shape for travel and battle and always oversaw many activities on board. He was a relaxed guy and a known womanizer that was famous for throwing shore parties whenever he could. But he had been a Boatswain for many years and ultimately was a reliable and loyal guy that got the job done at the end of the day.

When Brittany had first joined the crew four years ago as Brent Pierce, the blonde was a bit intimidated by his reputation, but soon found out that Puck was one of the few decent guys aboard, and they became fast friends. Ever since Brent got promoted to first mate, Noah had been helping the 'boy' more than he usually did. Brittany made it clear both to him and the captain back then that Puck would make a much better first mate, but the man had refused saying it was too much responsibility and he already had enough as it was.

Brittany punched Noah in the arm to get his attention, hard but playfully as it was expected of Brent, earning a grunt from her drunken friend as he spilled some rum on his shirt. She could smell how he reeked of rum, sweat and dirt. The man shrugged before rubbing at his sore arm. Puck looked up at his friend and handed his eyeglass, without saying anything.

Brittany stared between the object in her hand and Puck, leaning her head to the side in confusion and waiting for him to elaborate. After a moment he seemed to realize that and pointed east "There, use yer deadlights, matey."

The youngest shook her head at her friend's behavior laughing a little and wondering if he could even see pass his nose in his current state but she indulged him anyway. Brittany brought the object to her eye, searching for what Puck was talking about.

"Do ye see that?" she could see in her peripheral vision, Puck pointing ahead and she followed it with the eyeglass.

"Aye." she mumbled in an almost whisper. The only thing she could see was heavy grey clouds at the horizon, it was still too dark to see anything else "It looks like a pretty heavy squall." she commented.

"Exactly!" he huffed as he passed his large palm over his poorly shaped Mohawk in concern. Brittany looked at him, waiting for him to continue, still not understanding what was troubling him.

"That bilge-sucking fool!" he shouted to the dense air, slightly startling Brittany with the outburst. Puck didn't take noticed as he took another large swing of his rum bottle and shook his head as he kept scoffing at nothing.

"Are you just going to curse the winds? Or are you tellin' me what the hell is going on?" The woman inquired him in clear annoyance as she crossed her arms and almost forgot to keep her voice an octave lower as she was already getting tired of his drunk vagueness.

"Schuester." he growled, pointing in the direction where Brittany knew the Captain's quarters was located "The man is a fool! I was jus' about to head for me quarters," Brent gave him a knowing look, Puck rolled his eyes and ignored his friend before continuing "When I noticed how fast we be goin'." the blonde nodded, acknowledging that she did noticed the ship was moving at high speed.

"That dog can't go that fast wit' a storm in the horizon!" the man said flailing his arms to make his point.

Brittany sighed, closing her eyes before she rested her hand on her friend shoulder "Noah, I think you've had too much to drink."

"No!" He protested shrugging his friend hand off his shoulder "By the hour he wakes, 'twill be too late." Puck continued, looking at blue eyes pleading for Brent to listen.

"I'm aware of his orders," Brittany replied averting her eyes and looking down. Even if Noah was drunk, she knew he was still right about this matter.

"What?" Puck exclaimed perplexed by the statement and immediately stood up, still leaning on the mast for support as he waited for the blonde to elaborate.

"He wants to get there before any other ship." The first mate explained still looking at the ground, she didn't agree with Will all the time, but he was still the Captain and she still had to follow his orders at the end of the day.

"But 'tis too dangerous, to be off into such an ugly squall at this speed." Puck reasoned with his friend suddenly sounding much more sober.

Brittany nodded and released a deep breath "I can slow the ship down before it's time for the Captain to wake up." she suggested after a few minutes of silence.

Puck slowly nodded his head with glassy eyes before bringing the bottle to his lips for another gulp. But before the bottle could touch his lips, Brittany snatched the bottle away from his clumsy hands.

"Hey!" he protested, trying to get the bottle back from his friend.

"Come on, Puck. I think you've had enough." she said as the muscled man lunged for the bottle again and failed as he lost his footing for a second and almost fell to the ground.

"Let me help you to bed, Noah." Brittany smiled at her friend and used her best Brent gentle but firm voice as she offered Puck her arm. The man scoffed but complied, (it wasn't the first time this had happened after all), taking Brittany's arm and letting his friend help him stand properly as he leaned his weight on a lean but strong shoulder for support.

She helped the heavy man down to the main deck and they proceed to stumble their way down the stairs passing through the gun deck and kept going down through the sailor's quarters. After a few missteps and curse words from Puck, they finally got down to the storage basement.

Brittany never understood why her friend chose to live down here. And he had been living in there since she had known him. He either spent his nights in the sailor's quarters with some of his friends or here in the basement along with their cargo and supplies, in a corner where he arranged a cot and a chest for his belongings.

Once Brittany tried asking him why he did that, he replied saying that there was where they kept all the alcohol and it gave him a lot more privacy whenever he brought a lady aboard. Still, it didn't make sense to the blonde, since if Puck really wanted to, he could easily get a higher rank on the ship and get his own cabin with all the privacy he wanted.

Puck definitely was an odd fellow, Brittany thought as she led the now half asleep man to his cot. But he was still one of her few friends, if not her only true friend aboard this ship. She often felt guilty for hiding her secret from Puck, but her safety depended on that secret, so the fewer people knew about it, the safer she would be.

The only other person, besides herself, that knew about her secret was the ship's medic Kurt Hummel. He had found out the truth about Brittany being a girl shortly after she joined the crew, when some crew members played a prank on her causing her to hurt her shoulder. When she was brought in, Kurt figured out right away that she was a woman, and for some reason decided to keep her secret and help her out, especially when she got any injuries or had any girl problems; which she was eternally grateful for.

They had become friends over the years, but definitely not as close as her and Puck. Kurt was also very odd in his ways; in a different way than Puck as the young man seemed to have an education of some sort and sometimes he could be a bit condescending towards the blonde and everyone else for that matter. Brittany usually just let it be, and preferred to keep it to herself the fact that until she was 15, she also had had an education and could read just fine contrary to an ordinary sailor.

The other crew members constantly called him Hummel, Baby Face, due to his delicate features and more effeminate behavior. If their captain hadn't laid down a law for everyone to back off of him, and hadn't given him his own officer's cabin, she was sure he would have a harder time on the ship. He once confided in Brittany saying she was his first friend, besides Will on the ship. And that made Brittany's day. She loved talking to people and she loved making new friends.

"There you go." Brittany almost grunted out as she laid Puck on the cot, grimacing at his half opened dirty shirt that showed an equally dirty looking chest, and she figured that's why he stank so bad, and she briefly wondered when was the last time he took a bath. The man just made a strange noise in response that Brittany interpreted as a "Thank you." before he completely blacked out on top of the cot.

Brittany relaxed her Brent posture and stretched her muscles from Puck's weight. She made her way back to the main deck still carrying Puck's bottle in her hands, hearing the loud snores coming from the sailor's quarters on her way there.

She took the stairs back to the quarterdeck and as soon as she got there, she made sure to empty the rest of the alcohol in the sea. Brittany had never liked alcohol very much. She wasn't fond of the taste or what it did to people when they drank.

She perched herself up on the railing to see if she could find someone that was still up at this hour. The blonde spotted a slumped form resting against the foremast, near the bow of the ship. As she got back to the main deck and walked towards the person, Brittany noticed it was Blaine and approached him.

"Night watch?" She asked startling the boy a bit, as he looked up at her. He slowly nodded at her question with his droopy eyes.

"Is there anyone else?" Brittany questioned looking around and squinting her eyes to see if she could find more people in the darkness.

"Aye, but most of them already went to sleep. But I think there's still some men drinking at the Galley" Blaine said as he got up still leaning on the foremast while rubbing the sleep out of his tired eyes.

Under the moonlight Brittany tried not to focus on how weird and larger than normal Blaine's eyebrow looked with the shade cast on it. It really looked like one large caterpillar chasing her even bigger sister.

Realizing she still hadn't replied and Blaine was expectantly looking at her, she stiffen her posture and assumed her first mate role as Brent and gave him a sympathetic nod before clearing her throat and assertively saying "All right, gather around at least 3 hands from the night watch." causing Blaine to immediately straighten up at his superior command and give a firm nod in response.

Brittany continued explaining what their task was going to be in the same authoritative tone. "We need to reef the sails; it's too windy so we need to slow the ship down." She finished pointing towards the main mast.

"Aye aye, sir, I mean Brent" Blaine fumbled with his words again, inwardly scolding himself for his mix up as he felt heat creeping on his face and nodded again to his superior before turning around in the opposite direction.

Brittany smiled as the short man quickly walked away from her. She never understood why the young man was always so flushed around her. The blonde shrugged to herself as she leaned on the nearest mast and waited for the man to return.

Looking at the horizon, she could see that the storm already appeared to be nearer to their position, they definitely were moving too fast and the storm was coming. Fast and dangerous. She worriedly looked around, wanting Blaine to hurry up and get there faster.

She thought about her captain, and his seemly careless decision to sail at full speed in dangerous waters. William J. Schuester was a good captain; he respected his fellow crew mates for most of the time and had a fair knowledge of the seas. Being an ex-navy man, he was very strict with his rules and he could be ruthless and cruel during battles. Though he was too proud of his own double chin and could be very arrogant, and never admitted making mistakes. Brittany had come to know he was indeed a hard person to advise especially since he only seemed to like his own ideas. But for some strange reason he took a liking to Brent since the beginning.

Schuester could also be very naïve, trusting some of the boys on his crew too much too quickly. But if he realized one of them had crossed him, the man would make sure to punish them accordingly.

When Brittany first applied to be a part of The Wandering Hangman, she had heard the captain only employed able young men and it was one of her last choices since she had already been turned down by the last 2 ships she had tried to join as Brent Pierce. She knew of the ship's fame, so she didn't have much hope so that's why she was so surprised when Will accepted Brent right away and how nice he seemed to be; even if he was a bit creepy, contrary to his reputation.

He took Brent under his wing and along with Puck taught the blonde a lot of things about sailing. And most recently trusted Brent to be the first mate of his beloved ship after the last one, Figgins, had been killed in their last raid. No one really liked Figgins, he was a man of few words and never really did anything, his hands were always tied according to him and most of the shipmates didn't mind that Brent had taken the job after what he did for the crew on that raid.

Brent had gained some popularity because of that raid. They were losing the battle when Will tried to raid a merchant ship that was unexpectedly guarded by a fleet of well-armed navy men. Brent's quick thinking and bravery managed to get them out of that situation with much less casualties than everyone thought possible. As Brent managed to single-handedly detach the two ships to allow their ship an escape and he let the crew take care of the navy men that were still aboard The Wandering Hangman.

To boost their moral, and keep the crew from mutinying him because of his poor leadership and failed attempted at looting another ship, the captain hanged all their prisoners as usual. An often display of cruelty that Brittany despised but could do nothing about.

She had winced when Shuester made her watch the execution that time and stand beside him while the men hanged. And her captain had chosen that particular moment to praise Brent efforts and promote him to first mate. The majority had agreed, but there was some who resented Brent for taking the job, and thought he didn't deserve it for being too young both of age and on the ship; the same people that mockingly called Brent 'Junior', amongst other way worse names. The rest was indifferent and just happy that they were alive and that Figgins wasn't the first mate anymore.

Despite that incident, Will was usually competent on raids and good at sacking small ports and ships but when the task required for him to outsmart his opponent or other pirates he wasn't as good, though he would never admit it.

When they went to certain quests to find treasures and similar things, they usually weren't that lucky. The crew wasn't aware that Will was not a good navigator, and often relied on Kurt's talent to do most of that job, that was why the young man was so valuable to their Captain.

The ship's strength was that they relied on brute force; they had great fighters aboard as the ship was populated by young males, and a skilled gunner like Coleman at their disposal. But that was also their weakness as long distance fights weren't their forte and smaller faster ships could beat them in upwind rather easily. A particular ship that did that more often than Will liked to admit was called La Canoras, currently the only ship run by a woman in the Caribbean. And that just pissed Shuester off even more; he told Brittany once that the woman was known for her snark and cruelty as well as for luring man to their deaths and that's why she was called Lopez, La Sirena Sangrienta.

The crack of thunder brought Brittany out of her memories, and she followed the noise realizing that Puck was indeed right and the storm might come sooner rather than later.

She looked back at the aft where the wheel for controlling the rudder was placed, and bit her lip in thought. She could just change the ships course and try to avoid the storm all together, Brittany had a weird feeling about this particular storm, and she couldn't quite point out why. Plus Puck's warning even if he was drunk still worried her. But she couldn't change courses, Will was her captain, and Brittany had to follow his orders even if she didn't agree with them.

Brittany released a deep sigh and rubbed at her tired eyes when she heard a commotion and soon she saw the silhouettes of 5 men coming her way. She straightened her back, assuming her Brent posture again. When the men came to stand in front of her, she noticed at least 3 of them looked incredible intoxicated, and Blaine just looked really tired. But the first mate carried on and repeated the previous orders to the men; even if they all nodded along in acknowledgement she was only hoping they had actually listened and understood her.

When she finished giving her orders, they all scrammed away to do their jobs on their respective positions. Brittany had to admit that even if three of them seemed to stumble their way to the masts, they seemed to be doing their job pulling the right lines and cables and as the first mate, she was definitely impressed.

"I'll help you mates out." Brittany said still in her Brent voice as she walked to the foremast and got into position to pull a few lines to adjust the fore sail.

"Pierce, ye don' have to do that." the sailor closest to her at the foremast said as he pulled on a cable, his bright blue eyes weren't glassy like the other three men.

"It's no problem, Brody." she responded as she tightened her knot, giving a tight lipped grin to the muscular man. "We're all tired, and it will be faster this way." she said giving him a shrug.

Brody nodded in agreement and flashed Brent a thankful smile with his pearly white teeth. Brody Weston was a decent sailor and a talented carpenter that helped fix the ship when needed. Brittany really wondered how he managed to keep his teeth so white; most of the men on the ship didn't even wash theirs and let's just say dental hygiene wasn't a priority for a normal pirate. She averted her eyes from the staring both in the fear of possibly going blind and also before she blurted something inappropriate out to him, and just kept doing her work in silence.

When they finished tying the final knots and the sails were turned flat to the winds to avoid too much wind pressure on all that fabric from the strong winds. Brent addressed the sailors again before dismissing them "The men are to be awoken in a couple of hours. Shue's orders." They all nodded along in acknowledgement and the first mate dismissed the sailors who were grateful to returned to their sleeping quarters for some rest. Despite being tired, Blaine waved frenetically at his superior, his greasy hair shining in the moonlight as he walked down the stairs to their quarters.

Brittany nodded to the young man but kept a straight face. Only when she was alone the blonde released a laugh at the man's behavior, Blaine sure was very strange, she chuckled to herself.

She walked up back to the quarterdeck and approached the wheel. Brittany sighed and picked up Puck's eyeglass from her pocket and once again looked towards the storm. She couldn't help noticing she barely even needed the eyeglass as the storm was now fast approaching and she could clearly see flashes in the clouds ahead and hear thunder just a few seconds later and a large dark cloud seemed to slowly obscure the moon, increasing the darkness around her. She softly touched the wheel, tempted to change the ship's course.

Brittany wondered if the weird feeling she was having was worth disobeying Will's orders, she nodded to herself after a few moments and made a decision right there.

There was a rule everyone on the ship was aware of, that Will was not to be disturbed once he entered his cabin. The crew had spread all kinds of elaborated rumors to explain that behavior. If Brittany thought the women at the market in her old town were gossipers, they sure had nothing on pirates. Brittany was about to disobey that particular order as she started making her way down to the Captain's cabin.

But the first mate didn't get very far because as soon as she set her foot back on the main deck a shadows obstructed her way. Brittany looked up and squinted her eyes trying to see who it was in the dark.

"Look wha' we got here!" the tall figured that was closer to her said with disdain clear in his voice.

"And we hear Greasy B yappin' about work at this hour." another shadow with broad shoulders spoke right beside the other man. She could smell the stench of cheap alcohol on them and took a couple steps back as the men kept approaching her.

"Aye, who be stupid enough to work at 'tis hour?" A lanky man at the first's one other side said with sarcasm and the other two laughed at his comment. Brittany winced at the man's words but made her best not to show it. Though it was still really dark with the clouds now fully hiding the moon, Brittany could clearly see the flaming red hair atop the lanky man's head. Recognizing him as Rick 'the Stick' Nelson, one of the men that for some reason despised Brent.

When the men stopped laughing, Brittany could see their features better as the moonlight was slowing returning, and she realized the first man was no one other than Samson Evans also known as Sam, The Mouth. She didn't know the whole story but she guessed the blonde man got that name for his humongous mouth. He was one of the crew members that had a problem with Brent being the new first mate. Kurt had told her that Sam's constant need to be the center of attention was because he had wanted to be Captain Shue right hand since he first joined the crew and rumor had it that he hoped to one day take over after Shuester.

"Ye be one lousy first mate, Junior." the man with broad shoulder beside Evans sneered and as Brittany expected it was Joshua Coleman, an arrogant man that tried as best as he could to torment Kurt without Will noticing and of course he was friends with Evans and always seemed to follow him everywhere.

"I bet I'd make a much better one!" Evans puffed his chest out with pride and a dreamy expression on his face.

Coleman punched the man's arm encouraging him while saying "Ye be damn right, Mouth!" while the Stick just nodded his head dumbly in agreement.

"We 'ave had it wit' ye, Pierce." the big lipped blonde scorned, taking another step towards Brent menacingly.

"And Bosun Puck ain't here to co'er yer arse 'tis time." the Stick continued, crossing his arms and looking around just to check if Puck was anywhere in sight.

Puck had always looked out for Brent; the blonde boy may be skilled with a sword or cutlass, but Brent lacked on physical strength compared to most pirates aboard, and his lean and lanky figure made some people tease or provoke him so to avoid people like Sam to become physically abusive, Puck always tried to stop that from happening. Since Puck had been on the ship for a long time, he was respected by the crew and his imposing figure usually got the goons to back off.

Brittany gulped as Coleman got even closer to her clenching his fists. In a fair fight, she might be able to take out one of them or even two, but three was too much, and it didn't look good for her. In the dark, what she didn't see was the fist coming her way from the right which knocked her straight to the floor.

"I 'ave always said this scurvy pansy was no pirate material." Rick mocked while the other men guffawed loudly.

"Bloody good one, Stick." Evans said as he noticed Brent was starting to get up and before he could, the man kicked him in the stomach sending the blonde to the floor again, gasping for air. "I dunno know what Shue see in this cowardly swab." Evans sneered, spitting on the floor next to Brent's body.

Coleman put his hand on Evans's shoulder and said "Let us show 'tis bilge rat, th' pirate way t' do thin's." As he kicked Brent again, aiming at his legs. Evans and Rick nodded before surrounding the young man on the floor.

Brittany tried to get up again, but only got another punch to her face, feeling the taste of warm blood running down her nose. She curled up on the floor to protect herself as best as she could as they continued to hit her.

Being a pirate for so long, she was used to injuries and fighting enemies, but she had never been attacked in such cowardly manner before.

Brittany's whole body was aching, her left arm and leg had taken the most hits and the pain was just excruciating, she really hoped they weren't broken. She could hear the men laughing above her and their mocking tone "'Tis really be the first mate?" Her eye was already swollen from the previous punch so she could barely see or distinguish who said it.

"I think that be enough, mate." Another voice said from above.

"No." The first one protested and she recognized the whiney tone as Evans.

"We can't kill him," the other voice said in a hushed whisper and made a pause before adding "…at least not here."

There was a long pause, where Brittany just remained motionless, her stomach twisting at the words she just heard, the girl just wished the pain would go away and hoped they would leave her alone.

"I ha'e an idea" she heard Evans' voice after a while. And moments later she felt herself being lifted from the ground and felt pain shooting through her body as her limbs were stretched in an uncomfortable position. Brittany realized two of the men were carrying her body by her arms and legs. Not long after, she felt her body hit a hard wooden surface with a thud and she gasped loudly as air seemed to escape her lungs at her back hitting the wood. She was having trouble breathing and her body was aching even more after the impact.

"I dunno know, Mouth," she heard a hesitant voice coming from above.

"Don' worry, Shue will nah find out. He gunna just think Pierce left in th' middle of th' night or that he fell off th' ship fer being th' stupid swab he be." Evans replied and she heard a few mumbles that she couldn't distinguish in the state she was in.

"Just keep yer mouth shut!" she heard Evans hiss angrily before she felt her body slowing falling along with the wooden surface. Brittany realized she was being lowered to sea level on a dinghy. It didn't take long for her to feel the small boat hitting the troubled water.

She felt the sickening motion of the waves hitting the boat, harder and harder. Brittany opened one of her eyes and saw the ship getting farther away. The sailor immediately panicked, she tried lifting herself up but she didn't have enough strength left and she slumped back against the hard surface when pain shot through her arms at the effort. She tried calling for help but the strong waves had already carried her too far for her weakened voice to be heard. Brittany looked around and didn't see any pedals, she brought her hand to her forehead not knowing what to do; hissing at feeling the swelling on her face. She was in no condition of swimming back to the ship, as she felt herself slipping in and out of conscious from the pain every few seconds.

By the time Brittany was finally able to lift herself, albeit with great strain, the waves and the wind had only gotten stronger and the storm seemed to be in full swing around her. She used her remaining strength to use a nearby rope to tie herself to the boat and tried holding on to it for dear life as heavy rain fell on her head.

It felt like hours had passed, the night seemed darker and the rain was lighter now, almost gone. Though the water was as turbulent as before and the waves kept hitting the small boat with force, luckily without breaking it so far. Her tired and bruised body felt heavier by the second, her limbs were feeling numb. She gazed up at the skies, feeling her body give up into exhaustion, noticing a small red light above her where a few clouds seemed to have parted for some reason just before she felt herself slipping away into darkness.

* * *

Ahoy, me hearties!

It didn't take long this time, right? :)

So I hope you guys liked this chapter despite all the violence. It started off light and it took a turn for the worst at the end, but believe me, it was hella hard writing that scene even if it was necessary to the plot.

Here is a little something for you all. I hope all the ship's descriptions weren't confusing but if you want to check out the design of the main ships of this story here's a link just so you guys have an idea what's the layout. (without the spaces and with dot com after tumblr).

**Edited:** Since the previous links are off just head over to my tumblr and you'll be able to see both La Canoras (Santana's Ship) and The Wandering Hangman (Will's Ship) along with the poster art.

bet-the-ducks-in-the-heya . tumblr /tagged/red

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited this story. It means a lot getting that much feedback. Thank you, guys :D Please let me know what you thought of this one as well.

This is still unbeta'd so all mistakes are totally mine.

Ducks.

**Warnings: This chapter contains an amount of violence against women, if you are sensitive or would like more details, please contact me for more information.**


	3. Chapter 3

**October 23th, 1678**

Bored.

Santana was incredibly bored. It had been a weird couple of days. It rained for 2 nights since she got here, and yesterday the rain kept on for the whole day. Thank god, she had managed to gather more food on her second day and had saved some of it, but that didn't change the fact she was very, very bored the previous day and remained bored through this morning.

She gulfed down her breakfast, thinking she couldn't have been stranded on a more boring island. There was nothing to do during the day, especially being locked up in a small cabin; plus there was no secret stash of rum hidden anywhere or even a secret treasure buried, just the chest full of clothes as far as she could tell, so much for excitement.

There weren't even any local morons for her to pick on.

Santana leaned back against the wall with a sigh, she finished her meal in less time than she intended. With an audible grumble she got up and gathered her stuff, picking up a piece of fabric on the floor and rolling her breaches up, deciding to have a look outside as the rain finally seemed to have stopped.

Santana stepped out of the cabin as she strapped her dagger to her waist, noticing there weren't even any clouds in the sky as if it hadn't been raining for more than a day.

_Damn strange weather_, she thought to herself.

Everything about this whole situation was odd, she remarked as she remembered when she got up in the middle of the previous night to do her business, grateful that at that point the rain had briefly stopped and noticed once again that the red dot had appeared in the sky. There it was again, mocking her. That red sign had always reminded her of her Papi, her family and she felt a pang at remembering the things she had already lost.

She shook her head as if trying to get rid of her depressive line of thought and started making her way towards the beach, trimming her usual path of wondering branches on her way there.

Santana breathed in the fresh salty air of the beach when she stepped into the sand, wriggling her bare fingers in it. She was so glad she didn't wake up with a headache today, the day was warm and pleasant and she hoped to catch some fish with the makeshift net she had made with some pieces of clothing on the previous day; at least she had made good use of her time locked in the cabin.

The brunette started walking down the beach, searching for a good place to test the new net she held in her hands when she noticed an odd but familiar form about a hundred something meters away from her. Her hand automatically went to the dagger at her waist. Santana took a few more steps in the things direction and squinted her eyes trying to distinguish exactly what it was.

After she took several hesitant paces towards it, Santana realized it was a dinghy. This was even stranger, since it didn't seem to be any ships around; she double checked just to make sure. The woman carefully walked to the tree line and hid behind a tall tropical plant. From afar, it didn't look like there were people near it or aboard the dinghy, but Santana cautiously continued making her way towards it, hidden by the forest alongside the beach, just in case.

As she got just a few meters from the small boat, Santana finally came to the conclusion it was empty. The woman looked around searching for anyone in the premise or if something caught her eye, only moving from her hidden position once she was sure she was alone.

Santana approached the empty dinghy; located in a pool of water, protected from the powerful waves by large rocks. The pirate couldn't help getting a surge of excitement as she hoped this would be her way off of the island. She inspected the small boat closer and slumped in disappointment when she realized half of it was submerged in water due to severe cracks on its side, probably a product of hitting those big rocks.

"Damn!" She cursed, kicking the boat with her foot and wincing in pain. "Idiot!" Santana then grunted in frustration at herself, having completely forgotten she was bare footed.

Her hit caused the boat to move, slightly floating away from her and Santana noticed the stretched rope tied to it. Forgetting her pain and spurred on by her curiosity, she inspected the rope for a brief moment and followed it to the other side of the dinghy. As Santana slowly walked around it, she noticed with a gasp that just a few paces from the small boat there was a body in the very shallow water.

She carefully approached what appeared to be the body of a lean man and her gaze instantly fell on the Cutlass tightly strapped to the man's waist. Santana took her time analyzing the rest of his attire, realizing he was most definitely a pirate; the high boots with breaches darken by salt water held by a thick belt, the shirt that was clearly ripped in some places with hints of dried blood splashed on it, the worn open waistcoat also tainted by hints of blood and the blue bandana in his head holding some of the long blonde hair that lay disheveled across the man's face, hiding it from view.

By his attire, she could also know that he may have been not just an ordinary seaman.

Santana bowed her head in respect for the poor fool body of a pirate in front of her. If he was sent in a dinghy in the middle of such a storm, he was probably sent to die. _He almost made it_, she thought to herself with a shake of her head.

Getting closer to the unmoving man, Santana stopped abruptly to think; she was a pirate, so she might as well take advantage of this man's poor luck, and she was in need of a Cutlass after all, plus he may even have something interesting stored in one of his pockets.

She crouched down to his level, wetting her breaches in the process and went for his belt to try and get the Cutlass free. But a sudden movement cause by the man stirring in his sleep startled Santana and she immediately brought her hand to her dagger but froze upon the sight in front of her.

The hair that was once covering the man's face had fallen and a delicate face was hidden beneath it, a clearly feminine delicate face, Santana discerned. Even if this person was wearing man's clothes, she was clearly a girl, and from the looks of it probably around Santana's age.

Santana also noticed how beautiful this woman was even if her face seemed to be heavily bruised. One of her eyes was swollen and had a dark circle around it and her thin dry lips were cut at each corner, but she still seemed beautiful with her defined cheekbones and straight long nose with a light layer of freckles on her sun kissed skin.

In a moment of though, Santana bit her lower lip. What should she do? She was about to rob a dead body and didn't feel guilty about it at all, and now for some reason, she was feeling bad for robbing a living woman? That didn't make sense to her.

She heard a pained grunt coming from the injured woman as she squirmed for a moment in pain. Santana imagined what this woman must have been through and how injured she must be and couldn't help but feel sympathy towards her.

Even though she knew she may regret this later, Santana had already made her decision the second she laid eyes on the blonde woman's face, she was going to help her.

To insure her own safety, Santana took the woman's Cutlass and strapped it to her own waist along with her dagger, and patted the blonde's pockets to make sure she wasn't carrying any other weapons.

With a lot of strain Santana picked the girl up from the shallow water, drenching the rest of her clothes before making her way back to the cabin. She hadn't realized before that this girl would be so heavy and she was too tall compared to Santana's smaller stature, so the brunette was having difficulty walking on the soft sand with the woman in her arms.

Santana released a sigh of relief when she finally got to the edge of the forest where the ground was more solid and easier to walk on, and adjusted the stranger in her arms for a better grip. But woman started squirming in her arms and fighting her hands, mumbling something Santana couldn't understand.

She laid the wriggling girl on the ground before both of them could fall. Santana sat on the ground next to the blonde and waited for the girl to stop struggling. By instinct, she put a soothing hand on her pale sweaty forehead and caressed the skin with her thumb feeling small tingles at the tip of her hand where their skin touched. She tried to ignore the feeling and her curiosity but she found herself wondering what color this stranger's eyes might be.

After a few seconds, Santana noticed the woman falling back into a more peaceful sleep; her face no longer looked pained and her squirming had subsided. So the tired brunette got back on her feet and stretched her back, getting ready to pick the tall girl up again and start their journey back to the cabin.

The sun seemed much hotter now, approaching its highest position in the sky. It took longer than Santana thought it would to reach the cabin and as she felt sweat dripping from her forehead and neck, mixing with the salt water on her body, she kicked the cabin's door open and carried the stranger inside, laying her down on the makeshift bed as smoothly as possible.

She noticed the woman seemed even limper now, and that she had completely stopped stirring. Worrying for her, Santana moved her hand to the stranger's neck to feel for a pulse, and was instantly relieved when she found one; she couldn't help but notice how soft the woman's skin felt even under her current condition and also couldn't ignore the flip her stomach made when she felt that almost electric feeling at the tip of her fingers for the second time.

Retreating her hand, Santana stared at it for a moment in wonderment before she moved to light the fire. She wasn't a medic, but years living at sea and talking to her crew's medic Mike taught her a few things. For one, Santana knew cuts and bruises were always in need of a proper cleaning as quickly as possible. So when the fire was done, she went to get some water with an old bucket she had found the day before by the nearby river so she could heat it up.

When she got back to the cabin and put the water on the fire, Santana noticed her unconscious guest seemed to have moved a bit in her restless sleep. Santana truly didn't want to disturb the stranger, but for her to see and treat this woman's injuries she would have to remove her clothes, and Santana subconsciously gulped at that thought. She didn't even know why she felt the need to help this woman in the first place. But she just couldn't seem to really help wanting to.

Santana approached the blonde woman again, careful to not make any loud noises, and decided to start with the removal of the woman's boots. The high boots along with most of her clothes were heavy and wet and Santana scoffed at herself as to why she didn't think to take those off on the beach so she wouldn't have to carry so much weight. She easily took both boots off and the woman didn't even stir as she seemed to be in deep sleep now, if the light snoring was anything to go by.

Santana quickly wiped away the small smile that she felt tugging at her lips at the endearing sound. She then moved to the woman's breaches, also taking them off with a bit more difficulty due to the damp fabric sticking to the woman's skin. But Santana did notice with a frown that the blonde's underpants also had stains of blood on them.

She re-positioned herself closer to the woman's torso, so she could lift it up and take her waistcoat and shirt off.

Once Santana managed to get both items off, after some stirring and unintelligible mumbles from the woman beneath her, the blonde was left in only her underpants and a tight binding wrapped around her chest; Santana guessed it served to hide its volume and scolded herself for the heating she felt creeping along her own face.

Santana couldn't help but think one of the theories in her mind seemed to fit this stranger. It wasn't unheard off, even if Santana had never witnessed firsthand, but she was aware some women posed as man to be able to go aboard ships; as most ships wouldn't allow a woman aboard due to it being a bad omen. The question that remained running through her mind was whether this woman was just posing as a male pirate to get somewhere or if she was actually a pirate who happened to hide her true gender. Santana was hoping for the former but a feeling in her gut told her otherwise.

Looking down at the woman, Santana swallowed dryly at the state her body was in. She was clearly fit, Santana couldn't deny, but her abdomen was covered in deep purple bruises and so were her lean arms, which also sported some small contusions. The brunette touched them gently one at a time to make sure there wasn't anything broken, even with girl's faint grunts of protests at each touch.

Santana lifted her gaze to look at the woman's face, wondering again what happened to her and felt a pang she couldn't explain at the thoughts running through her head. She shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind, she couldn't worry about that now; actually she shouldn't worry about this woman at all, she reminded herself futilely.

Absentmindedly touching the thin hairs at the blonde's neck, Santana stopped herself, and remembered that she hadn't checked the woman's head for injuries yet. So with the utmost care, she carefully and gently unwrapped the blue bandana. Relief washed over Santana upon seeing that the woman's head seemed to be intact; aside from her black and swollen eye and split lip.

After Santana took an overall look at her guest, grateful she didn't seem to have any major injuries or broken bones, she moved to get the warm water. Santana dampened a cloth and sat by her side to start cleaning the cuts on her face. But, as soon as the warm cloth touched the bruised skin, the woman jolted awake. Her unfocused light eyes opened and she seemed to panic, jumping from the bed in a hasty but precise movement, bumping into Santana on her way in a graceful flash of blonde, as she managed to steal her Cutlass back from the smaller girl's waist before Santana could even notice or understand what was happening.

As the blonde woman stood a few paces from Santana, pointing the Cutlass directly at the brunette's chest even if her eyes remained glassy and her legs visibly trembled. Santana's only thought in the moment was _'By god, this woman is good'_ as she stared mouth agape at the half naked woman.

She was cut off from her thought when the distressed stranger took a step towards her. Santana lifted her hands in surrender and tried reasoning with the girl as she said, "Wait, I'm not going to hurt you."

The confused woman tried focusing her eyes on the stranger in front of her. Santana saw the woman's stance faltering as she started collapsing in slow motion. Quickly, Santana threw herself on the ground to catch the woman and was thankfully successful in softening her fall, at the cost of her own back hitting the hard floor with a loud thud.

For the second she laid on the ground with her back hurting from the fall and the woman's dead weight on top of her, Santana wondered what the hell was wrong with her. Not only had she thrown herself out there for a complete stranger, but the fact that her immediate reaction to a sword being pointed at her wasn't to reach for her own dagger and defend herself scared her the most because that had never happened before. And the worse was that all she could think about at this very moment was the warm touch of soft bare skin on top of her.

Santana realized right then that her previous words to the girl ran deeper than she had first thought. She had absolutely no intention of hurting this woman, even if it conflicted with the way Santana had been raised to be; her survival should be the uttermost and most important thing to her, as her father had taught her many years ago.

She finally maneuvered herself from under the blonde and picked her up from the ground, slowly moving the girl back to the bed. Santana released a deep sigh as she picked up the piece of cloth she'd had before and dipped it into the bucket of still warm water. She took a moment to appease the woman's troubled expression while she slept, and started cleaning the cuts. The woman flinched at first but didn't wake again, much to Santana's relief, and instead after a while seemed to lean into Santana's touch.

Santana took her time, cleaning every cut and every bruise on the girl's body. She still wanted to keep the girl's modesty and felt herself flush at the thought of taking the girls underpants off; it's not like she never seen that before since she was a woman herself but even so. Instead Santana cut the dirt and blood stained parts of the woman's underpants to look for bruises and clean the ones she found there.

When she was done, Santana looked for her pouch and searched for Mike's cream. The substance had a horrible smell, but it was incredibly effective and she carefully applied it to the girl's injuries then cut into one of the many pieces of fabric she had laid out beforehand to wrap around each of the said injuries, to keep it from getting dirty. One of the many things Mike had told her was that they had to be kept clean in order to properly heal.

As Santana finished, she stood up and looked at her handy work with a sense of accomplishment. The girl before her had each of her arms wrapped in a thin fabric as a bandage and the green smelly substance spread across the bruises on her abdomen; just looking at it, Santana remembered how she unintentionally flushed upon feeling the woman's well defined abdomen.

One of the woman's legs was also tightly wrapped and Santana had carefully applied the sticky healing substance to the swell on the girl's eye so it would heal faster. Satisfied with her work, she decided to leave her guest to herself, and get on with the mind-numbing chores she still had left.

Santana was leaving the cabin when she smacked herself in the head for her own stupidity as she realized she had forgotten her makeshift fishing net at the beach. She really didn't want to leave the girl alone for that long, but she didn't have much of a choice as her stomach growled and the brunette just couldn't continue eating only fruits for the rest of her stay here, however long that was going to be.

She made her way back to the beach, hoping her net would still be there when she arrived. Even though it shouldn't have taken as long, Santana was still tired from carrying the woman earlier so she made her way at a much slower pace.

Getting to the beach, the pirate went back to the place she had found the mysterious woman and thankfully her net was still lying near the beach, covered in sand. As Santana was already in the area, she decided to check the small boat again. She felt bad when she realized there was nothing around except the rope; not even paddles. Once again she wondered what had happened to the stranger in her cabin.

Gathering the net in her hands and shivering as the cold water grazed her feet, Santana entered the ocean, searching for a good spot to catch fish. Approaching a few rocks by the beach, she laid the net and prepared to catch some fish. Even as she concentrated on the task at hand, her mind couldn't help but ponder all the recent events; washing up on this island, finding shelter, the crazy weather, finding a stranded blonde stranger.

She scolded herself for thinking about the woman again. But it was inevitable; a hundred questions ran through her mind about the girl. What happened to her? Why was she dressed like that? Who did that to her? How did she survive the storm last night in the state she'd been in?

Santana didn't have an answer to any of those questions except one. After she thought about it, she did remember the woman had tied herself to the dinghy, and for some reason it only came to Santana now, she'd woken in the middle of the night and curiously the stormed seemed to have stopped.

She also remember looking into the skies late that night and finding that red glow shining down on her. That certainly had been strange and she couldn't help but remember her Papi and his words, immediately feeling a shiver run through her body. So Santana brushed that thought aside once again, she figured that was why the blonde had survived, because the stormed had ceased at some point last night. _That was very lucky for her_, she thought.

Her father came to her mind again, and she wondered if maybe it wasn't luck after all.

The sun was setting on the horizon and Santana figured she had enough fish for one day. It had taken her longer than she thought it would to catch these damn fish. It was like they had legs or something. When the last one had almost ripped her 'new' net she reckoned 5 fish were enough for a hard day's work on her first day of fishing; groaning loudly as she thought that she hadn't worked this hard in so long.

Santana started making her way to the cabin, and now felt bad for leaving the woman alone for so long. She briefly wondered if she would find the woman there at all, thinking she might have ran away and taken the brunette's possessions with her. Santana quickly discarded the thought when she remembered the state the woman was in, and how she had collapsed right after getting up. She frowned at that. For some reason, this woman being injured made a discomfort settle in Santana's stomach, and she felt an unexpected hint of growing rage at the thought of what might have caused the injuries.

Arriving at the cabin, Santana found the blonde in practically the same position she had been before and was thankful that almost none of the medicine had fallen from her body. She still blushed for some reason at seeing the girl's barely covered body but quickly shrugged it off; she hadn't flushed this often probably in her entire life.

Before she could think on that, Santana began to prepare supper. She thought about frying the fish, which would be an easy choice, but upon further thought realized it would be hard for her new guest to eat that way. Santana kept mumbling to herself why she even cared but it didn't stop her from making a fish stew for supper.

She put the stew in a coconut shell when it was done and sat next to the unconscious girl, thinking about how the hell she was going to do this. She put the improvised bowl at her side to cool down and put her hand on the blonde's forehead, noticing the electric feeling again at the tip of her fingers but also noticing how warm the woman was, too warm. She stood up and grabbed a cloth and dipped it in some cold water she had in a corner.

Santana moved back to the girl's side and put the cloth on her forehead, careful not to hit her swollen eye. After worrying her lip between her teeth for a few moments, Santana made a bold move and tried sitting the woman up slightly, hoping not to wake her as she put a folded dress under the woman's head to prop it up, and was relieved when she could still hear the woman's faint snoring.

Santana positioned her hand under the woman's neck to hold her still as she started to stir a little and brought the shell to slightly parted lips and softly whispered near the pale face. "Drink"

The woman stirred a bit more but as the liquid touched her lips she accepted it and drank, still without opening her eyes in her half asleep state. She drank the warm liquid so fast, Santana started to wonder how long the woman had been drifting at sea before she washed ashore. She hoped it had not been that long.

When the half asleep girl was finished, Santana wiped the woman's face with the back of her hand and covered her body with a thin blanket as she saw the woman shiver a bit.

Santana went back to the hearth to pour some stew into her shell. She sat by the fire to eat and stole a glance towards the woman, noting she was already fast asleep, if the recurring light snoring was any indication.

If any of Santana's friends could see her now they wouldn't recognize her. Of course she would do the same for them if needed, but they knew she would never do the same thing for a complete stranger, and not only that but another pirate, from possibly a rival ship.

She scoffed at her own recent actions as she quickly gulfed down her food, she couldn't fathom why the hell she was doing this, but she just couldn't stop herself. There was just something about this girl that made her want to and she couldn't explain what that was.

She put things away and sat by the fire, realizing just now how sore her body was. She'd really done a lot of work today and carrying the stranger's limp body for such a distance hadn't helped. Santana looked around the cabin and fixed her gaze on the sleeping woman. _Shit_, she thought, "I gunna have to sleep on the floor." she mumbled under her breath, realizing the girl was occupying the only 'bed' available and the blonde was now splayed out on it taking up all the space.

Groaning in frustration, Santana stood up and went to the chest to pick up another blanket, suddenly very grateful for the amount of garments and blankets that she'd found in there. She took another glance at her guest, just to be safe before she put her most precious belongings inside the chest, along with the woman's Cutlass. She promptly locked the chest with her hairpin and hid it safely in her hair, along with her trusted small blade.

With her dagger safely resting on her waist, she draped the blanket on the ground near the fire, not too close, and lay down grunting as the hard ground came in contact with her sore muscles. She thought it would take longer for her to sleep in such conditions but soon her tired body gave out and Santana drifted into sleep.

* * *

Ahoy, mateys!

So the long awaited Brittana meeting! (Even if Britt was unconscious for most of the chapter lol) What did you guys think about it?

I was overwhelmed with the response I got from the last chapter and I just wanted to thank all of you for being so great :) Some of you had guessed where the dinghy would end up, so four for you, my dears.

This is was beta'd by a lovely friend of mine, so thank you m'lady ;)

Ducks


	4. Chapter 4

**October 25th, 1678**

Brittany drifted in and out of sleep. She couldn't see a thing, light came and light went out, she had no idea how much time had passed or where she was. _Maybe I died, _she thought to herself. Maybe she had died by the hand of the sea or perhaps a mermaid. She did vaguely remember a beautiful dark skinned girl with penetrating eyes; _that's silly, mermaids don't hurt anyone_. Or perhaps it was all just a dream. If she had died, maybe this was heaven but then again, heaven couldn't be this painful or this terribly stinky. Maybe she was in that purbatory or whatever they called it, either way it wasn't pleasant in the slightest.

She groaned uncomfortably even as a soft caring hand pushed her neck up, followed by a warm liquid being brought to her parted lips. It tasted like boiled fish but it wasn't bad, she definitely had worst at the ship. Brittany gulped it down as her throat was feeling incredibly dry. She felt the recipient emptying out as she drained all the warm liquid, then it being pulled out of her grasp even as she followed it for more. Though in just another second another liquid was pressed to her lips, and this time it seemed like fresh cool water and the blonde gratefully licked her cracked lips after the water had washed down her throat and the lingering taste of fish. Brittany groggily exhaled as she felt sleepiness pulling her in once again.

This process repeated itself, Brittany didn't even know how many times; always a warm caring hand with the softest touch and always a broth being brought to her lips with such mildness. She didn't know if this was just another part of her hallucinations but at least it wasn't an unpleasant one, like the pain she could still feel on her body that had become somewhat familiar to her at this point.

Brittany blinked her eyes open, for what felt like ages. The clarity made her eyes hurt so she quickly shut them down again. After a moment she opened them more slowly, taking her time to adjust to the light, but her vision was still a little blurred. She took a sniff around and realized the horrible smell that had overwhelmed her before wasn't as bad anymore. And when she tried moving her body from the place she was resting, she realized something else, the pain had mostly vanished.

Her eyes widen as she looked at her own body that was covered by a soft blanket. She inspected herself, the first thing she noticed was, that she could actually see with both of her eyes. Bringing her hand to touch her face she felt just a little bit of swelling but it was definitely much better than before. She sat up on the bed and found that her arms and legs were tightly wrapped with bandages and there was a healing bruise at her stomach. Brittany blushed and felt a little uneasy at the thought that someone must have stripped her of her clothes to treat her injuries.

The blonde immediately got defensive, covering her exposed torso with the blanket and looking around trying to figure out where she was and how she got here. The last thing she remembered beside her vague dreams was her on the boat facing the storm and that shiny red light at the end just before she passed out.

Brittany analyzed the place she was in; a small cabin as far as she could tell, with little to no furniture and a hearth by the wall that seemed to be used recently. The place didn't look familiar and looking around she didn't like the fact that she couldn't find her Cutlass or her clothes. Brittany tried getting up but her legs were still sore and wobbly, and she didn't want to injure herself further. She then noticed her undergarments were cut shorter and she frowned.

Feeling anxiety rising up at her vulnerable state, she saw an empty shell of a coconut by the bed and took it. Brittany hit the shell against the hard rock surface right beside her bedding until it cracked, choosing the bigger and sharper edge of the shell and hiding under the blanket; at least with this she could still defend herself. Then again, if the person had taken the time to carry Brittany here and treat her wounds, they mustn't be that bad, right? She found herself wondering.

But years of experience in the sea had taught her that she just couldn't trust people, especially strangers. And impressions were most definitely deceiving most of the time.

Brittany was brought out of her musing when she heard a noise coming from outside. She lied back down and firmly clasped the piece of the shell under the sheet just as the door was being opened. The woman pretended she was still unconscious but slowly peeked one eye open.

All she could see was a woman's back as said woman was dragging a heavy bucket inside the cabin. Brittany couldn't help but let out a little sigh of relief. Sure, she wasn't about to underestimate this stranger but if worst came to worst, a woman, especially a small stature woman such as this one, was much easier to overpower than a strong build man.

Still, as this stranger seemed to have cared for her injuries and feed her, Brittany didn't intend on doing her any harm, unless it was absolutely necessary. She seemed harmless enough to Brittany, with her small frame and lean body, accompanied by the fact that she wore commoner's clothes.

"Shit!" Brittany heard coming from the dark haired woman a few meters from her and tried not to jump in surprise. She saw the woman stretch her back and swipe her hand on her forehead as she had finally managed to move the bucket inside, by the hearth.

Brittany realized the girl was now moving towards her and quickly shut her eye again, pretending to continue her sleep. Hearing footsteps approaching, she tightened her grip on the shell on instinct. She felt more than heard the brunette woman crouching beside her and move something near her.

She tensed a bit when the woman seemed to move even closer. Brittany felt a hand hovering over her face and seconds later soft fingertips grazed her cheek. The hand had barely touched her and Brittany felt something, like electricity, she could barely process it before she instinctively opened her eyes. The blonde swiftly grabbed the brunette's wrist, startling the woman above her.

Brittany saw the woman moving her hand to her waist in reflex; probably for some weapon, and immediately stopped her from moving as she menacingly brought the edge of the shell to touch the side of the woman's face with precision. The woman's brown eyes widen at Brittany's movements, certainly not expecting them.

She smirked internally for successfully being able to overpower the other woman even when she wasn't at her best condition. But upon looking at those deep dark eyes, she realized why the woman seemed so familiar before. Her stance slacked and without even thinking Brittany whispered.

"You." Brittany cocked her head to the side, softening her grip on the woman's arm, making the brunette scrunch her face up in confusion and shock.

This was the woman, the dark haired mermaid from her dream, or was it a memory? Brittany couldn't tell anymore. But this was definitely the same woman; she would recognize those penetrating eyes anywhere.

"You saved me." she said, finally releasing the woman's arm and lowering the shell. She didn't know why she did it. This woman could still have an agenda for saving her, but something in her gut told Brittany that she could be trusted.

"Are you a mermaid?" Brittany blurted it out. Her voice still scratchy from sleep and days of unused. Santana didn't know what to say. This girl was definitely intriguing. She was attacking her at one moment and asking weird questions at another.

But by the girl's serious expression, Santana figured she meant it, so she shook her head. The brunette thought she saw the woman looking a tad disappointed though she seemed to quickly recover and ask in the next second. "Then, why did you save me?"

Santana was baffled by the question, to tell the truth, she didn't really know why she had saved the girl. Something in the back of her mind suggested what it might be the reason but she just ignored it once again.

Not knowing how to respond, Santana simply shrugged to the other girl; who seemed to deflate again at her response.

"Wait," Santana paused for a moment, taking in what the woman had said before. "Mermaids don't save people, they kill them."

"What?" The girl looked perplexed, like Santana was the one talking nonsense. "No, that's not what my Mama told me." She protested while shaking her head "They help people that are lost at sea and save people that fall in the ocean." She explained matter-of-factually.

Again, Santana didn't know how to react. She couldn't believe she was actually discussing mermaids with this woman. It was incredible how much innocence this girl had, and for some reason Santana wasn't rolling her eyes at what the blonde was saying, but she found it completely endearing coming from her. She wondered how a person like that could be a pirate, and for a second even pondered the possibility that this girl might not be one, but then remembered how fast she had moved before and how deathly she was with something as simple as a coconut shell. And it just made Santana shudder, wondering with even more curiosity how the woman had come to this kind of life.

Realizing she was probably taking too long to respond and for some reason, she didn't want to upset the young woman in front of her, Santana decided to just nod, and change the subject.

"Here." she said as she turned to the side to get another clean shell and filled it with fresh water, she had just gathered.

Brittany sat up with some difficulty and eyed the shell for a moment with its clear liquid, before deciding to trust the brunette and grabbed it, noticing that as her fingers grazed against tan ones, she felt that weird feeling at the tip of her fingers again. She mumbled a thank you under her breath before greedily emptying the shell. Her throat was feeling dry and scratchy and the water helped sooth the feeling.

Brittany lifted her gaze from the bowl and caught the small woman looking tentatively at her, the brunette quickly avert her gaze with a dark shade of red flushing even her tanned cheeks. Brittany couldn't help but think this woman was absolutely gorgeous; with her darker skin tone, delicate face and plump lips. She was sure someone so beautiful had to have some sort of mystical powers. Before she could stop herself she blurted out another question.

"Are you sure, you are not a mermaid?"

Santana whipped her head back to the strange woman and noticed that now, she was the one staring at the brunette. She had her face scrunched up and her head tilted to the side with inquiring eyes and the only word that went through Santana's mind was _adorable_. It simply amazed her that this woman could go from suspicious to adorable in a matter of seconds. That was definitely an interesting combination.

Santana found herself giving the blonde a small smile and shook her head "No, I'm sure." she chuckled a bit, before getting the bowl back and setting it aside.

Brittany still stared in wonderment at the other woman, if she was gorgeous before, when she smiled she was just breathtaking. And Brittany immediately wondered what she would look like with an even bigger smile. Even if she wasn't a mystical creature, this woman was definitely something special either way.

While her guest seemed to be deep in thought, Santana decided to give her some space, gathering her things quickly and started walking away. Santana had only taken a few steps when she heard the woman's soft voice again.

"What's your name?"

She stopped mid step and turned around to face the blonde. She hesitated, being a pirate, this woman was out to recognize her if she said her real name. Santana wandered if she should lie to her. But before she could stop herself, her lips were already moving in defiance.

"Santana."

"Santana?" the girl asked for confirmation. And the brunette, being stunned by her own stupidity, just nodded in response.

"I'm Bren-, I mean, I'm Brittany." She stuttered in response, a blush covering her face and ears. The word adorable seemed to cross Santana's mind again as she felt her lips twitching in a small smile. But it did surprise her that Brittany hadn't recognized her yet, maybe she wasn't that famous after all. Instead of being offended as she normally would be, in a way Santana was actually grateful for that.

Santana's smile turned into a smirk as she asked as normally as possible. "I'm guessing Bren is your name as a man?"

"No, actually is Brent. Brent Pierce." The woman immediately replied without even thinking, and her blush intensified as she ducked her head to avoid eye contact, after processing what she had just shared.

Seeing the girl's embarrassment, Santana's voice turned soft as she inquired "Why do you dress as a man, Brittany?"

Brittany just continued looking downwards, clearly embarrassed. She wasn't sure if she even had her voice anymore, plus the fact that Santana called her by her name set her stomach to fluttering unaccountably.

"I-I… " Brittany stammered but couldn't get the words out and just stared even harder at her own lap.

"Nevermind." Santana interrupted, waving her off and taking a few steps towards the woman. "And I won't tell 'bout you."

"What?" Brittany lifted her gaze with a perplexed expression and couldn't help but stare into soothing brown eyes.

"You don't have to tell me." The smaller girl without even realizing flashed the blonde a warm smile. "I'm sure you had your reasons."

Brittany went to say something but Santana continued, interrupting her again

"You should get some more rest." she said moving towards the cabin's door, and turning back to add with a small smile, before she stepped out "I should be back with supper in a while."

The blonde breathed out in relief as she lied back down on the makeshift bed. She wished the woman had stayed longer but she was grateful for some time to gather her thoughts. The brunette seemed so kind to her and she had no reason to. _Santana, _she remembered the name with a smile_._ Santana even promised to not reveal Brittany's secret to anyone else. It all seemed too good to be true, especially given everything Brittany's been through lately. She was also very grateful that Santana hadn't asked how she got her injuries, which brought her thoughts back to the reason she was here in the first place.

Brittany had always gotten a weird vibe from Sam, and she knew he and his goons weren't nice people, but she never thought they would go that far especially with someone from their own crew; she had lost all respect for those men. She may not have many friends aboard, but she was sure, at least most of them didn't have anything against her. She wondered if anyone had missed her yet. Or would they have believed Sam's lies? Puck sure wouldn't buy any of it and she didn't think Kurt would either. Thinking about her dear friends, she let sleep take over once again.

Brittany woke up next, to the wonderful smell of fried fish. The smell so familiar, yet so distant in her memories like from a previous life; it used to be Lord Tubbington favorite dish many years ago. She opened her eyes and noticed the dimmer light coming from the hearth. Realizing the sun must already have set.

She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, feeling less sore than before. But she did notice the bandages in her arms seemed fresh. Brittany covered her upper body with the sheet, feeling a bit self-conscious just as Santana's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Ye're awake." She said before clearing her throat. "You're awake." Santana repeated as she approached the bed with some banana leafs on her hands. Brittany just nodded, while looking at her own hands.

"Here." Santana laid the banana leafs on the floor by the bed and opened the leaves to reveal four crispy fried fish. "Supper is ready." Brittany's mouth watered just looking at them. "I thought you could use eating something solid."

Brittany just mumbled a thank you and waited for Santana to pass two of the fish to her. As soon as she did, the brunette got up, seeming to have forgotten something and walked towards the hearth and picked up two shells and filled them in the bucket with clean water.

She got back by Brittany's bed side and handed the shell to her, and the blonde took a sip and nodded in appreciation for the gesture.

A silence felt upon them as they munched on the fish. Brittany noticed the fish tasted pretty good, and she wondered how Santana had done that, there wasn't any pantry with spices in sight as far as she could tell. The last time Brittany tried helping in the Galley, Matt the head cooker, had gotten mad at her for burning the whole pot of oatmeal; since then she had been banned from the kitchen area and was only allowed to help with the servings.

Looking around as she ate the crispy fish, she noticed there wasn't much around at all. The cabin looked almost abandoned aside from the hearth, her bed and Santana's, which she had just noticed now a few paces from her own. She questioned if Santana really lived here.

Something at the back wall caught her eye though, squinting a bit, she saw an old chest. She wondered what was inside and if it was Santana's. She pondered if she should ask or not, she didn't want to overstep any boundaries with her kind host.

Brittany looked back at her companion and found the woman staring at her. She didn't know what to do so she settled for starting a conversation. "D-did I sleep too much?"

Santana shook her head as she had just taken a bite of her fish, and after a few chews responded "Don't worry, your body needs rest."

Another silence fell, with only the crackling of the fire filling the room. Until Brittany got the courage to ask another question.

"How long have I been here?"

"It's been about two days, since I found you," Santana supplied as she took a sip of water.

"Do you know how long you'd been wandering on that dinghy?" Santana asked back, lifting her gaze from her fish to meet with blue eyes.

Brittany just shook her head with a frown. "I just remember the storm," she muttered, as she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to recall what had happened. Her memories all felt like a dream and it was difficult setting them apart from reality, but one thing she did remember.

"A big storm, and then I remember seeing a red light in the sky…" she thought for another moment scrunching her face up before finishing "…and that's it."

Santana immediately stiffen at the statement. She felt a crease forming between her brows. _Great_, she thought to herself. Just when she thought it might have been a coincidence. Just, _great_. She didn't believe in fate; she didn't want to believe in fate. Once again she shoved all her memories and new found feelings to the back of her mind.

Brittany noticed Santana's posture change as soon as she stopped talking and wondered if she had said something wrong. She didn't want to upset her host, but she could already see a frown on Santana's face so she changed the subject.

"The fish was good," Brittany said as she crewed on her last bite and gave the woman a beaming smile.

Seeing such a bright smile, Santana couldn't help but allow a smile of her own to form, even if it was a small one. And she gave the woman a nod before standing up and picking up the leafs and shells on the floor.

Getting to the hearth and throwing the leaves and fish spines on the fire, that angelic voice filled the room again.

"Why did you help me?" Glancing up over her shoulder Santana looked at the blonde, noticing she looked more serious than before.

Santana released a sigh and moved to her new uncomfortable bed, if you call it that. "I had my reasons." She whispered but she knew Brittany had heard her; the beds weren't far from each other.

Both women lied down and settled for sleep. Brittany could already feel her body aching and asking for more rest. Santana lied on the hard floor covered by a single blanket, before covering herself with a thin sheet, facing away from her companion.

"Santana…" Brittany whispered after a few minutes of silence. She had wanted to say something and finally had the courage.

Brittany's voice sounded amazing saying her name, Santana couldn't help but think. She wondered if she should answer or not, maybe she should just pretend to be asleep and she wouldn't have to. But the brunette rolled her eyes at herself when she found herself humming a response in the next second, it's like she couldn't even control her body.

Brittany thought about all the things she would like to tell this girl and all the things on her mind, but for now she settled for a whispered, "Thank you."

Santana made a noise of acknowledgement trying to feign indifference but she couldn't deny the huge smile that appeared on her face at the sheer sincerity in Brittany's voice and she thanked the darkness and her position that Brittany wouldn't be able to see it.

"Good Night, Santana" she heard from behind and with a content sigh she drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

Ahem...hello there people!

I have been looking for a beta for this story for a long time now but that didn't go very well. And I hadn't realized how long it's been so I'm sorry about that. It totally slipped my mind, so I wanna thank the lovely **thisisbrittana** for reminding me and getting me to write/edit this chapter for you guys. I'm still not sure, but I hope you like it, if anyone here is still interested. Please let me know what you think.

As you might imagine, all mistakes are totally mine.

Ducks


	5. Chapter 5

**October 26th, 1678**

This time, Brittany woke up feeling much better. Her arms didn't feel as sored and her legs only hurt a bit. The bruise on her abdomen was the only one that really bothered her this morning.

She looked around the cabin searching for a tiny brunette but didn't find her. Brittany sulked; for some reason she really wanted to see the beautiful girl early in the morning. She was also really hungry and Santana was her only source of food. The blonde felt heat rising to her face at her own thoughts; that didn't sound right.

Just then, the woman of her thoughts stepped into the cabin. She was carrying all sorts of tropical fruits in her hands but that wasn't what surprised Brittany, but the fact that the woman was wearing completely different clothes from the previous day. Clothes that looked similar to her own masculine ones, but much more fitted, like they were made to fit her clearly toned body. And before she could stop her own mouth, she blurted it out.

"Why are you wearing masculine clothes?" Santana startled and ended up dropping a few bananas on the ground, not having realized that the blonde was even awake when she came in. She looked at the blonde after picking up the fallen bananas and setting them on a large leaf. She found Brittany staring at her with her blue eyes full of questions.

"You wear masculine clothes," she deflected with a shrug, and watched the blonde fidget with her hands nervously.

"And these are my clothes." she said with finality, sitting down by the fruits to start pealing them. It was too early for talking, and her bad mood was already aggravated by the sore muscles on her back, but she still felt bad for snapping at the blonde.

Brittany didn't know what to do or how to respond, so she just kept staring at the woman; it was really incredible how she could look so gorgeous even while wearing masculine clothes and sporting a deep frown.

Santana finished pealing and cutting the bananas, mangos and papaya with her dagger and stood up to take them to Brittany's bed side, handing the bowl, aka coconut shell, filled with fruits to the blonde.

Brittany hesitantly took it; Santana still hadn't said anything but girl still muttered a quiet thank you in return. And after the brunette curt nod of acknowledgement, they both started eating their breakfast.

Halfway through her bowl, Santana was getting enough of the uncomfortable silence; that she had instilled herself, and decided to just tell the blonde the truth and clear things up; even if it was just to ease her own damming conscience.

"Brittany," she started making the blonde lift her gaze to meet hesitant brown eyes.

Santana took a deep breath before continuing. "I know you are a pirate,"

"Wait what? No, I'm not." Brittany protested dropping her food with a clang as she started fumbling with her hands on her and averting her eyes.

"Brittany, thar's no need t' lie," Santana reassured letting some of her crew's accent sip through, while picking something from her pocket "I know, and I also know that 'tis be your Cutlass and eyeglass." she said revealing Puck's eyeglass in her hand and pointing towards Brittany's Cutlass strapped to her own waist. Brittany's eyes widen at the revelation.

"Are you a psychic?" Brittany asked a mix of awe and shock laced in her voice.

Santana released a soft sigh before turning serious and shaking her head. "No, Britt."

Brittany felt her stomach do somersaults and it had nothing to do with the fact that Santana knew she was a pirate and everything to do with Santana calling her by a nickname.

But Santana didn't stop there and the blonde didn't even have time to enjoy the feeling as the woman interrupted Brittany's thoughts.

"I know this, cause I'm a pirate too."

Brittany's eyes widen even more as she took in Santana's words. She stared stunned at the woman, Brittany finally processed the brunette's attire, scolding herself for not noticing before. Santana was wearing typical pirate clothes, well no really typical Brittany thought, but a similar version of what Will usually wore when he was being casual but with slightly less quality; with _her_ cutlass strapped to her tiny waist, something that suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous to her.

Her eyes shot up to the brunette's face at that thought. And she's stuttered nervously "A-are you a Captain?"

Santana startled, surprised that Brittany would make the connection so fast. She thought for a moment about lying to her to avoid seeing the forlorn expression that was already forming on the blonde's face when she would realize who Santana really was, but something within her just refused to lie to this woman, so she replied, defeated.

"Aye, yes I am."

Brittany completely deflated at her answer, and it all came crashing down on her. She felt so stupid, she hated feeling stupid. Tears swelled up in her eyes, as she thought about what this would mean for her. How the brunette was probably just playing her with her strange kindness, she was right in thinking it was too good to be true.

Brittany's stunned and broken expression went straight to Santana's heart and she chaste herself for feeling like this. She never cared what anyone thought of her before. She was proud of being the captain of a successful pirate ship. This blonde woman was throwing her emotions completely off.

Deciding to leave Brittany to take in this newfound information since the blonde hadn't muttered a single word in the last 10 minutes. Santana got up and made her way to the cabin's door. Stepping outside, she took a deep breath and for the first time since she found the blonde, she blocked the door with a piece of wood. She didn't want to make Brittany her prisoner, but she feared that in her state, it was possible she would try to flee and Brittany was still in no condition to do so. Again, Santana found herself asking why she even cared so much. And she couldn't come up with a satisfying answer.

She scoffed at her own behavior for the millionth time and went to gather some dry wood for the fire later. Santana cursed the heavens that she had found some pretty useful things in here but still hadn't found a drop of alcohol in this god forsaken island. That would make all her work at least a bit more bearable.

The hours dragged on and Santana could barely get anything done. She found some wood and left it by the side of the cabin, not daring to go inside just yet. She tried fishing something for lunch but failed miserably, and one particular fish had managed to bite her toe, leaving her even more pissed off.

When the sun was slightly past its highest point, Santana finally decided to go back. There seemed to be more clouds than usual in the sky so she needed to hurry up. But not wanting to go back empty handed she decided to get some fruits; she reprimanded her coward self for not going back earlier cause Brittany was probably really hungry by now. So she cut down some fairly low coconuts and grabbed some fruits on her way back to the cabin.

Minutes later, as she stood in front of the worn yet intimidating door, Santana rested her head against the aged wood and released a deep sigh. Why was this bothering her so much? Why did it even matter what this blonde stranger thought?

Even so, she couldn't help but dread going inside. What if Brittany had figured everything out and recognized her as The Santana Lopez, the captain of La Canoras. Being a pirate herself, the probability was that Brittany was the enemy; she had far too many, and would try to kill Santana if she knew. Pirates were scheming people and Santana's head was worth a lot of money after all.

But for some reason, something in Santana's mind told her that Brittany was different. She still couldn't fathom how someone so sweet and genuine could be in this type of life. And it pained her to think of what might have made her turned to this life. Santana shook her head trying to get rid of these disturbing thoughts and finally gripped the piece of wood that was keeping the door closed.

Opening it, Santana found Brittany with her back turned away from the door, seated a couple meters from her makeshift bed. The blonde seemed really concentrated on looking at the floor.

Hearing the creek nose of the door, Brittany turned her head to see Santana standing by the entrance with her hands full of fruits and staring right her back. She wanted to smile at the brunette, but she shouldn't. She didn't know Santana's intentions for saving her, and the fact that the brunette had yet to disclosure them, made her uneasy.

Brittany's experience with other captains had not been good before. She knew how pirates were, and they never did anything that wouldn't benefit them in some way. So she just turned her head back to her drawing on the floor.

Santana slowly approached Brittany from behind. Smiling slightly at seeing the blonde drawing what looked like a mermaid on the floor. But she could see Brittany tensing as she reached her side. And the smile disappeared from her face, replaced by a frown at seeing the taller girl's reaction, but she sighed to herself in defeat, after all this was the expected reaction.

"Here's t' food." she said deflated, placing a few of the small little fruits at the blonde's side. Brittany just nodded her head in acknowledgment and took the food without a word.

Santana moved to sit just a couple meters away in the cramped cabin, to crack a few coconuts open with a sharp rock. As she hammered the rock with force against the coconut, she seemed to release some of her pent up frustration about her current situation and the sound of the coconuts cracking and the grunts she was releasing were the only things that could be heard for minutes.

She only stopped when she was breathing heavily with sweat dripping from her forehead and there were no coconuts left to break. Though, Santana must admit to herself that she did feel a little better afterwards.

Drinking some coconut water after eating at least 2 papayas, Santana caught Brittany staring at her from the corner of her eye. Even then, the blonde seemed to notice and averted her eyes again.

Looking at the girl for a few seconds, Santana realized something.

"You moved." she mumbled surprised, more to herself than anything.

"I was bored." Brittany replied with a shrug, startling the brunette with her cold tone, something foreign to her ears.

Santana couldn't help but frown at the blonde "You shouldn't have, you need to rest."

"Why do you even care?" Brittany snapped, wiping her head in Santana's direction and meeting her eyes. She had an unreadable expression, several emotions seemed to battle to come to surface, but Santana couldn't decipher which ones. Though she was sure hurt was one of them.

After a few tense moments of intense eye contact and deafening silence, Santana still didn't seem to come up with a response for the blonde's question, so Brittany was the first to break their gaze and go back to her food.

Looking at a recently cracked coconut, Brittany felt stupid and confused. Why was Santana being so nice to her? She didn't know. But it kept confusing her, and she didn't like feeling confused. Maybe all of this was just part of Santana's game to trick her.

"Why are you keeping me here?" Brittany blurted it out, minutes later.

Santana hesitated for a second before stammering out. "No, I'm not." Though she felt like she needed to explain further. "I'm just tryin' to help, you're not a prisoner."

There was a brief silence before Brittany spoke up again, anger clear in her eyes as she questioned the brunette with her arms crossed. "Then why did you lock the door?"

"I-I…" Santana stuttered and couldn't get the words out. Brittany's intense gaze kept her rooted to the ground and speechless. She broke their gaze, staring at the floor in embarrassment. No one had ever made Captain Lopez speechless before.

Distracted, as she struggled to find her own voice again, Santana didn't even notice that Brittany had moved closer to her. She only lifted her eyes when it was too late, and a body was already tackling her to the ground. She embarrassedly realized, not for the first time.

The brunette released a grunt at hitting the cold dirt floor and felt her hands being pinned above her head, as heated blue eyes hovered over her. Not only she mentally kicked herself for letting her guard down and letting this happen. But she wanted to kill her brain because the only thing she could focus in that moment was on how gorgeous this woman looked on top of her. What the hell was happening to her?

The cold press of metal on her neck brought her back from her inner monologue. Her eyes widen as she realized Brittany had grabbed her dagger and was now pointing the object towards her. _Damn, this woman is fast_.

Brittany released Santana hands but kept the dagger firm against her neck.

"I'm so stupid!" Brittany angrily huffed as she slammed her free hand on the ground, angry at herself. Santana just froze as dirt hit her face and she stared in confusion and shock at the blonde.

"So are going to sell me to the next smuggles that come by? That's why you helped me? To make more money?" she shouted inches from Santana's face as hot tears threaten to spill from her eyes.

Brittany had no idea why she was reacting like this. This woman was a pirate; a pirate caption for that matter. And this was expected, it's not like the brunette had lied to her.

Years of bend up frustration sparked a reaction from deep within her.

_I need to do this. To survive,_ she told herself, Santana would probably do the same to her in the near future. Yet, she couldn't help the way she felt. Why did it matter that this stranger disappointed her? They barely knew each other, yet knowing these were Santana's true intentions hurt more than when Sam had beaten her into a pulp and threw her at sea to death.

"That's what you do," _That's what he did. _She finished in her head after a while, deflated, but the dagger remained firmly in place.

Santana sensed there was more to the story. Perhaps the outburst wasn't just about her anymore. She found herself being honest with the woman. Once again.

"I don't know why I saved you okay? I have no idea. I've never done anything like that before." Santana said defensively but truthfully. She really didn't know why she did any of it; or at least she didn't want to admit to herself. But seeing Brittany with such a hurt expression and her eyes watering caused a pang in her chest, and it had nothing to do with Brittany's weight on her.

"Also, I thought you would leave, that's why I locked the door." She finally managed to answer the blonde's question and decided to clear things up "You can't be out there like this," She said motioning towards the bandages in Brittany's arms.

"Wh-Why do you care?" Brittany repeated her question, her voice thick and muddled as she eased up on the dagger and sat up on the brunette but keeping the eye contact. She might have just met the woman, but she had always been good at reading people and she could see the earnestness in her voice.

"I…I don't know." Santana averted her eyes uneasy with the question and its implications. This had been the question playing in her head for days now. And she was sure of the answer now, even if she couldn't admit it aloud. She liked Brittany. She liked this strange beautiful woman, and not like she liked her friends or anyone else, and that's what scared her the most.

Her brain started functioning again and she took in what Brittany had said moments ago and spoke with a frown. "But I would never sell you."

Brittany's hard expression faltered at the words and determination in brown eyes. But she remained in her position for a few moments of silence before asking, her voice coming out in a crack. "W-Why?"

Santana opened her mouth but nothing came out. _Shit,_ Santana thought. She literally had nowhere to run; she had never felt so vulnerable in her entire life. But there was something about Brittany that made her ask herself, did she really have to run this time? Even if she was a pirate, something told her she could trust the blonde and the fact that Brittany hadn't killed her yet had to mean something; maybe Brittany was having the same doubts as her.

"Cause I like you." the brunette closed her eyes at her own frightening admition. She couldn't believe she just said that. She had never said that to anyone before, beside her parents.

The silence stretched, and Santana was too afraid to open her eyes and look at the woman on top of her, but she felt the cold blade leaving her neck and peeked one eye open after a while.

Blue eyes were staring at her intently, she couldn't read the blonde's expression but she didn't seem mad anymore or hurt. Santana thought she saw a hopeful look in those amazing eyes.

It took a moment but the corner of Brittany's lips quirked in a small smile before she muttered in a quiet voice. "I like you, too."

Santana couldn't believe what she was hearing. Surely, Brittany didn't mean the same like as Santana did, but it was enough for her heart to swell and a warm feeling spread through her body as a mirrored smile appeared on her own face.

Both women just stared at each other for a while, too transfixed in each other to realize both were subconsciously leaning closer. Only inches separating the two. Until a loud thundering outside startled them apart.

Brittany got off of Santana and hissed with the movement. The adrenaline had worn down and she was starting to feel the pain coming back after doing too much effort for her still recovering body. She mumbled a _'sorry'_ before handing the dagger back to Santana in an act of truce.

Santana took the dagger but kept eyeing the blonde's injuries with concern. "Are you alright?"

Brittany nodded with a small smile, she wondered how someone so genuinely sweet could be a pirate Captain.

There was another thunder. Santana flinched, retracting into herself. Brittany noticed her reaction but didn't say thing.

The outside noise subsided and after seconds of silence, Santana spoke up again.

"Did you finish eating?"

Brittany nodded, embarrassedly looking at the discarded food she had left on the ground before jumping Santana.

The smaller girl got up and gathered all the leftovers so she could take it outside. Brittany just observed her from her spot on the floor.

As soon as the cabin's door was opened, a strong rush of wind came in and almost knocked Santana out. She dropped everything to the ground in haste and struggled to close the door. She picked up a few boards on the ground and used it to seal the door shut.

"What the hades was that?" She huffed out, gasping for air by the door. She listened and noticed the sound of heavy rain hitting the ceiling. She was so wrapped up in Brittany, she didn't even realized it was raining, certainly not this badly.

Brittany just looked concerned in her spot and asked if she was alright. The question and whatever she was saying fell on deaf ears and Santana just brushed the woman's concern off with a wave of her hand.

"Was that a hurricane?" Santana caught that part of the sentence though. And she felt the need to reassure the frightened woman.

"I don't know. It's possible but I don't think so. It's probably a tropical storm." Her words meant for both of them as she tried to convince herself. But Brittany looked worried as she gazed at her.

"But don't be alarmed, we will be safe." _We'll be safe_, she chanted in her mind, desperately willing her own fears away.

"How do you know?" Brittany asked, her eyes still fixed on the girl with the blank stare. Her words though, seemed to have taken Santana out of a trance, as the woman finally looked back at her.

"See that?" Santana pointed toward the lower part of the cabin's wall. Brittany nodded but still had a confused look on her face. "The base of this cabin is made of stone, old but reinforced stone, so it shall hold up well enough." Santana continued trying to reassure the blonde, but to tell the truth, the shudder in her bones told her she couldn't be sure how much the cabin would hold against a real hurricane.

Santana sat by her 'bed' and hugged her knees, retreating back to her own thoughts. Brittany noticed how small the girl looked while hugging herself and how silent everything was for several minutes, apart from the loud thundering that started again and increased in every flash of lighting.

She also noticed how Santana flinched every time the thundering could be heard.

It was obvious Santana wasn't feeling well and the storm outside had something to do with it. Brittany wanted to comfort the girl but she didn't know how without starling her so she decided to distract the brunette as best she could.

"So you live here?" Brittany asked in an attempt at small talk, she knew took a guess at the answer but also wanted to learn more about this intriguing woman. So she waited.

Seconds went by until Santana replied curtly.

"No."

Santana still looked tense because of the storm, but upon glancing at Brittany she soften her voice slightly. "I was stranded just like you were."

"Ohh," Brittany dragged the letter but scrunched up her face in confusion before asking "If you don't live here, and are stranded as well. How come you had a change of clothes?"

Santana went to reply but was interrupted by the blonde's rambling.

"Do you walk around with a secret magic bag? Or perhaps you really are a mermaid and can shift your own clothes?" she wondered aloud, lost in her own unusual thoughts. She couldn't shake the feeling that there must be something special or magical about Santana for her to be real.

The brunette just loosened her grip on her knees and wore a small smile while listening to the taller girl's ramblings. If it were anyone else, she was sure she would have smacked them on the head for talking nonsense, but every word that came out of Brittany's mouth just made Santana appreciate more and more the way this girl perceived the world around her.

Santana didn't miss the irony of Brittany thinking she was a mermaid. _La Sirena Sangrienta_, She usually hated that nickname; bitter men were the ones who called her that, the ones that couldn't deal with their losses. But she didn't think she would mind if Brittany ever called her that. She hoped that if Brittany hadn't realized who Santana was by now, that she remained oblivious for the time being.

"That would be really grand." She finished with hopeful blue eyes staring at Santana.

The smaller girl just gave her a smile and shook her head. "Sorry, Brittany. It's not that exciting." Brittany pouted slightly at the answer and watched as Santana pointed at the old chest in the back wall.

"That's where I get the clothes. And the blankets." she pointed towards the blankets and sheets resting on Brittany's bed and her own excuse of a bed.

"That's a nice looking chest," The blonde replied staring curiously at chest from where she sat. Santana just hummed along. "Is it yours?"

"Nay, I just found it here. Well, I guess 'tis mine now." She reasoned with a smirk.

Brittany was happy that she managed to distract Santana at least for a while; the brunette seemed much less tense now that she was distracted. So she kept making conversation.

"There such pretty clothes in there though." Santana nodded, but she didn't really care about clothes especially dresses, they only made her life harder and it was more difficult to move in them, but she had to admit that a nice nightgown was very comfortable to sleep in.

"I bet Kurt would love it," Brittany said still looking at the chest with a dreamy expression. Santana couldn't control the surge of jealously that sparked with Brittany's comment. She had no right, she knew that. But she couldn't help it. Who was this Kurt? Who was he to Brittany? The fact that Brittany was dressed as a man and she posed as one on the ship should have reassured Santana but it didn't. What if this guy knew about her secret and they had some sort of secret affair? Was he desperately looking for her right now? Where was he when Brittany was getting hurt? Or was he the one that hurt her?

Santana's thoughts were spiraling out of control and she decided she should change the subject as fast as she possible. She wasn't ready to know the answer to those questions; she didn't think she could take it.

A flash of lighting interrupted Santana's thoughts and she could feel her body tensing up again. Seconds later the loud thundering followed and she hugged her legs tighter.

All Santana wanted to do was sleep, her body was tired from all the work she had been doing and the uncomfortable place she had been sleeping in. All she wanted was to go to sleep and for when woke up and everything would be over.

"I-I'm going to bed." she mumbled without looking at Brittany as she slowly crawled her way to her dreadful bed. Brittany nodded and also moved to her own bed. The blonde was glad her injuries seemed better but the effort she did earlier really took a toll on her already sore muscles.

She lied down on her back and stared at the ceiling for what felt like ages. She couldn't sleep and the loud thundering outside didn't help, also the fact that after each loud noise she would hear a gasp from Santana's corner.

Brittany moved to lie on her side, looking at the trembling form a few paces away from her. She could clearly see the brunette was still awake as she tossed and turned every few seconds, seemingly having a hard time with the storm for whatever reason.

Before she could stop herself the blonde mumbled "Santana?"

The soft whisper of her name made Santana freeze in her spot, she slowly turned and looked in the direction of the sweet voice calling for her. There, she found Brittany intently looking at her, her eyes gleaming in the faint light of the fire.

Santana couldn't properly find her voice so she just hummed a response.

"Can't sleep?" Brittany stated the obvious.

"Y-yeah" Santana confirmed her voice cracked a bit even if she didn't want to show how she was feeling to the blonde stranger.

"Do you want to sleep here?" Brittany asked nonchalantly. Santana's eyes widen at the question and her mouth gaped in disbelief.

"I bet it's more comfortable and it can easily fit us both." She justified, making her point. Santana did think it wasn't a bad idea, and they finally seemed to be in good terms but she was torn. In one hand it was a show of good faith on Brittany's part, and she might not want to admit it just yet but she would love to be that close to the blonde. On the other hand, she would be _that_ close to Brittany; she didn't know if she would be able to sleep either way being that close to her.

Deciding to take a chance, Santana nodded in agreement not trusting her own voice.

Brittany scooted a bit to the side and made room as Santana crawled her way to the bed. She visibly flinched halfway there when a bright flash of lighting illuminated the whole cabin for a second.

When she got to the bed, she lied on her side facing away from Brittany; too embarrassed to actually face the blonde. Santana took a deep breath trying to calm herself. This storm was affecting her more than she'd like to admit.

She could feel the warmth coming from Brittany behind her and it did help relax her for a moment, before the next lightening flashed illuminating the cabin again, followed by even the deafening noise of thunder; it sounded like the world was ending outside.

Brittany saw how Santana's shoulders were still trembling. She was close enough that she could feel the girl shivering. She figured this must be hard for the brunette. Especially when she was supposed to be a fearless pirate, but Brittany knew that everyone was afraid of something and Santana probably had a reason for it.

Without saying a word, she pulled the large blanket that covered her body to surround both of them, effectively wrapping her arms around the smaller girl and brining their bodies closer together. She waited for the rejection and to be slapped away, as she felt Santana tense at first touch but nothing happened. She heard Santana releasing a deep sigh as her body seemed to finally ease a little. The brunette sank into the bed, and dare Brittany say, into her embrace. And surprisingly, it didn't take long before the blonde heard Santana's breathe even out, finally succumbing to sleep. Brittany closed her eyes and enjoyed their momentary closeness as she started to drift off as well.

* * *

Ahoy, me beauties! Hope that was nice surprise!

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. We learn a bit more about both and more interaction for them. They are stranded, they don't really have a choice (*Evil Laugh*).

I was so happy to see people were still reading so please let me know what you are thinking. It motivates me each time.

All mistakes are totally mine. But I'm forever looking for a beta on this one.

Ducks


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